GENERAL INFORMATION AND OTHER FINANCIAL DATA - EARNINGS PER SHARE (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2021	Mar. 31, 2021	Mar. 31, 2020
Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, Share-based Payments [Line Items]
Income from continuing operations, net of income tax		$ 928	$ 867
Earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests		(33)	(143)
Preferred dividends		(21)	(36)
Earnings from continuing operations attributable to common shares for basic EPS		874	688
Add back dividends for dilutive mandatory convertible preferred stock		10	36
Earnings from continuing operations attributable to common shares for diluted EPS		884	724
Income from discontinued operations, net of income tax		0	80
Earnings attributable to noncontrolling interests		0	(8)
Earnings from discontinued operations attributable to Sempra Energy		0	72
Earnings attributable to common shares for basic EPS		874	760
Earnings attributable to common shares		$ 884	$ 796
Weighted-average common shares outstanding for basic EPS		300,905,000	292,790,000
Dilutive effect of stock options, RSAs and RSUs (in shares)		887,000	1,304,000
Dilutive effect of mandatory convertible preferred stock (in shares)		6,666,000	19,831,000
Weighted-average common shares outstanding for diluted EPS (in shares)		308,458,000	313,925,000
Earnings from continuing operations (in dollars per share)		$ 2.91	$ 2.35
Earnings from discontinued operations (in dollars per share)		0	0.25
Earnings attributable to common shares (in dollars per share)		2.91	2.60
Earnings from continuing operations (in dollars per share)		2.87	2.30
Earnings from discontinued operations (in dollars per share)		0	0.23
Earnings from continuing operations attributable to common shares (in usd per share)		$ 2.87	$ 2.53
Vested RSUs included in basic WASO (in shares)		460,000	542,000
Share-based Payment Arrangement, Option [Member]
Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, Share-based Payments [Line Items]
Exercisable period	3 years
Performance-based RSUs [Member]
Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, Share-based Payments [Line Items]
Equity awards, granted (in shares)	319,027
Service-based RSUs [Member]
Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, Share-based Payments [Line Items]
Equity awards, granted (in shares)	132,388
Stock options, RSAs and RSUs [Member]
Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, Share-based Payments [Line Items]
Non-qualified stock options granted (in shares)	222,620
Stock options, RSAs and RSUs [Member]
Deferred Compensation Arrangement with Individual, Share-based Payments [Line Items]
Antidilutive securities excluded from earnings per share (in shares)		428,875	254,257